十五年前，我在为“广州首届90年代艺术双年展（油画部分）”所写的《对“双年展”作品的基本估计》一文 中，写过这样一段文字：
……艺术家们的创作心态显然较'85 时期放松。调侃、嘲讽、游戏的创作态度成为一种新的时尚。这在“湖 北波普”和所谓“新生代”艺术家群的作品中均有鲜明的反映。“湖北波普”从过去的历史文化中引用图式，或将 流行的大众消费品转换为艺术的做法，无疑具有深刻的文化或社会的含义，以至批评家可以将其大致划分为“文 化波普”、“社会波普”这样一些不同的类型。然而这些作品中的相互冲突、互不连贯、错综复杂的多重意义，却 是经由幽默与机智的艺术想象、耐人玩味的技术性制作，轻松而洒脱地自然溢出，绝少刻意为之的痕迹。生活意 识的加强，与公众距离的切近，则使之更加富于中国当下文化的浓郁气息。（1）
这段文字是我对那次展览中的探索性作品所显示的特质和动向的几点归纳中的第二点，文中我曾预期这些 特质和动向必将引起批评家和艺术史家们的注意，并将会对90年代的中国艺术产生影响。在给我以上深刻印象， 让我做出上述判断的“湖北波普”艺术家中，魏光庆是一位重要的代表。他在那时就已采取了与其他“湖北波 普”艺术家显然不同的方式，即“把过去的东西和现在联系起来”，（2）以一种让历史文化与现实连接的作品方式 进行工作。他的获奖作品《红墙—家门和顺》就是把传统文化中已被人遗忘的《朱子家训》里的道德说教故事与 现实生活中流行的胶卷盒图象以及带有明显政治寓意的“红墙”并置说事，通过匪夷所思的意义勾连来巧妙地介 入现实，通过意义空间的转换来实现对历史文化与现实生活的解构与重构。
现在看来我的预期并未落空，吕澎在他的《20世纪中国艺术史》（北京大学出版社20 06.12）中就以相当的 篇幅着重论述了“广州双年展”中的湖北波普艺术，他对魏光庆的评价是：“艺术家以中国传统木刻读本图式和 强烈的色彩，改变了波普语言原初的性质—对意义的消解。它成为研究90年代西方艺术在中国情境中的变异的 范例。”这段堪称“点睛”之笔的评语显然来自“广州首届九十年代艺术双年展”对魏光庆作品《红墙—家门和 顺》的获奖评语。（3）依次出现的关键词“改变”、“中国情境”、“变异”及“范例”，不仅钩勒了作为当代艺术家 的魏光庆其作品方式与艺术个性的特殊面貌，更凸显了一个值得深入思考的理论问题—中国当代艺术的“当代 性”与“本土性”问题，“范例”一词亦当就此而言。“获奖评语”原文为：“它（《红墙—家门和顺》）为我们今后 一段时期里对西方当代艺术语言在新的情境中的变异的研究，提供了一个有价值的范例”，带有预示和展望的含 义。而吕澎在其《20世纪中国艺术史》中的评语则显然是对这一预示和展望的肯定，因为按吕澎的表述“它（《红 墙—家门和顺》）”已然“成为研究90年代西方艺术在中国情境中的变异的范例”。
我当然赞成吕澎的这一肯定，并且认为对这“新的情境中的变异” 的研究，不仅是解读与评价魏光庆自创作
《红墙—家门和顺》以来的一系列作品的关键，也是探索中国当代艺术之“当代性”与“本土性”生成的路径。 应该说就探索中国当代艺术之“当代性”与“本土性”的生成而言，魏光庆2005年创作的《中国制造》或《金瓶梅》更具成功范例的意义。考察 “西方艺术在中国情境中的变异”，有必要比较西方波普艺术与魏光庆作品的巨大差异。众所周知，美国波普艺术运动是由劳森伯格、约翰斯、卡普罗和奥登伯格等人的创作发展而成的。而 最能代表美国波普艺术的人物则是安迪・沃霍尔，他用模仿广告和连环漫画的方式创作，描绘的是可口可乐瓶、 汤料罐头瓶等批量生产的产品和玛丽莲・梦露这样的性感明星的肖像。方法和题材的选择都是为了吸引人们的眼 球或说是为了惊世骇俗。尽管有论者认为他的这种创造性策略直接地指向了后现代主义，并指出他的“这样的艺 术作品既相当于商品，又是以一种暗示批量生产的方式来制造商品：它们可以说是反映了垄断资本主义的文化及 其对现实的改造；它们同样还可以说是反映了景象的无处不在。”但艺术家本人却对于自己的作品具有批判意义 这一点从不承认，而且“他是真正地崇拜和赞美大众文化，并小心谨慎地经营着自己的声誉，与现代资本主义完 全没有麻烦和冲突。”（4）可见以安迪・沃霍尔为代表的西方波普艺术，是消费社会的产物，它与其后出现的以直 接的、更具针对性的批判方式涉及社会、政治和文化主题的观念艺术不同，他遵循的是消费社会的文化逻辑。沃 霍尔自称是一个商业艺术家，在他看来“善于商业经营是一种最迷人的艺术”，“赚钱是艺术，创作是艺术，而成 功的商业是最好的艺术”，（5） 因此所谓的“波普语言原初的性质—对意义的消解”恰恰只是由这一层面开始生 发—波普艺术的主题和技艺打破了艺术中“高雅”与“低俗”的界限，也颠覆了关于艺术家个性特征与艺术追求 的传统看法。
《中国制造》对西方波普艺术语言的挪用大大超越了这一层面，事实上作者借鉴的主要只是表现为平面化波 普风格的图象运用方式，而对社会与文化问题的自觉关注，则与本土文化的当下性密切关联。就取材而言，魏光 庆坚持了自己自创作《红墙—家门和顺》即开始形成的“把过去的东西和现在联系起来”的作品方式，不同的是 作品增加了更多的中国传统文化元素，对包括《金瓶梅》版画插图在内的传统雕版技艺丝丝入扣地放大复述，不 只是为了勾起历史文化记忆，更是为了强调某种精神性的内容。在这一点上魏光庆的立场与沃霍尔等西方波普艺 术家十分不同却也一样态度鲜明，魏光庆说：“中国文化历史悠久，有一种内在的独特性，应该把它们强调出来， 所以我的‘波普’与西方‘波普’的区别就应该在这个方面。”他还说：“我觉得艺术家的作品给观众制造的是一种 视角，甚至是一个盲点，其过程应该是互动的。”（6）《中国制造》制造的视角奇特而谲诡，作为背景的彩色条形码 和“中国制造”、“CHINA”字样可说是当下作为＂世界工厂＂的中国的符号呈现；充满色情想象带有颠覆性意图的
《金瓶梅》插图，很明显只是以色欲为幌子，其旨意并不在色欲，但同样明显的是它所指涉的现实是90年代以来中 国社会巨大的“性观念”变革。《中国制造》集合了远较《红墙》为多的历史和现实的视觉文化元素，以尽可能多的 相关对比、语意转换来表达关注、表达思考。《中国制造》就是这样以一种文化上的自觉和自信，在改变波普语言 的原初性质的同时，也超越了东西方文化的对立。这使它得以立足于中国当下文化情境，巧妙利用传统文化资源， 为我们“制造”出了属于中国当代艺术自己的“当代性”。
注释：
（1）《理想与操作》，四川美术出版社，1992年10月
（2）、（6）见沈伟《坚守图象—与魏光庆谈“增广”》，《艺术界》2005年第一期
（3）参见《中国广州・首届九十年代艺术双年展（油画部分）作品文献》，四川美术出版社，1992年10月
（4）、（5）见罗伯特・威廉斯《后现代艺术理论》常宁生、邢莉译，载《美术馆》总第十期，上海书画出版社2007年
Made in China — “Making” Chinese “ Contemporaneousness”
PI Daojian
Fifteen years ago, I wrote “a basic assessment for works in Biennial exhibitions” in the ‘First Guangzhou 1990s Art Biennial Exhibition (Oil Painting).’ It contained following words:
... Artists’ creative mentality is obviously more relaxed than that of ’85 period. The attitude of parody, satire, and game playing has become a new kind of style. The trend is distinctively reflected in the “Hubei Pop Art” and the so-called “new generation” artists group. “Hubei Pop Art”, borrowing schemes from history or popular consumer culture, then turning them into art, undoubtedly had a profound cultural or social significance. Hence, the critics broadly classified them into different types of “Cultural Pop Art”, or “Social Pop Art”. These artworks conflicting, incoherent, and complicated multiple meanings are naturally overflowed with deliberate through humor, witty imagination, and puzzling technical production. The strengthening of a conscious life and the closeness with the public made art more in harmony with the flavor of contemporary Chinese culture.
These words were of my second point among a few summarizations in exploring art works’ characteristics and trends in the exhibition. In this article, I predicted that these characters and trends would attract the attentions of critics and art historians, and would have an influence on Chinese art of 1990s. Among “Hubei Pop Artists” who left me the above impression, Wei Guangqing was an important representative. Even then, he had taken a format that was different from other “Hubei Pop Artists”. That is, “linking the past with the present,”to work under a format, which
links historical culture with the present realities. Wei’s award-winning Red Wall—Harmonious Home is a work that links the forgotten moral stories in “Zhu Family Motto” of traditional culture with the trendy film box, whereas the Red Wall has a clear political implication. Through collusion of incredible forces in reality and transformations of meaningful spaces, deconstruction and reconstruction of historical culture, contemporary life is achieved.
Now it seems that my expectations have come true. Lü Peng, in his “20th century Chinese art history” (Beijing University Press 2006. 12), expended substantial coverage describing the “Hubei Pop Art” in the “Guangzhou Art Biennial.” He evaluated Wei Guangqing thus, “the artist, by using traditional wood carving reading schema and strong colors, changed the original characteristic of the Pop Art language—deconstructing its meaning. It has become the paradigm for the studying of the variation of the 90s’ Western art in Chinese situation.” The above
“accurate” critic obviously came from the review of awarding winning work in ‘First Guangzhou 1990s Art Biennial’
— Wei Guangqing’s Red Wall—Harmonious Home . These words— “change,” “Chinese situation,” “variation,”and “paradigm,” did not only describe the contemporary artist, Wei Guangqing, his working method, and typical appearance of artistic personality, but also pointed to another theoretical question worthy of consideration—Chinese modern art’s contemporaneousness and indigenousness. The word “paradigm” also pointed to this specific context.
The original text of “Winner’s Reviews” is: “it (the Red Wall—Harmonious Home ) provides a valuable paradigm for the study of contemporary Western art language transforming in the new context in the coming period”. It had the connotations of prediction and forecast. Lü Peng, in his comments of Chinese Art History of 20th Century, clearly affirmed that expectation, because Lü Peng described, “It (Red Wall—Harmonious Home ) has become the paradigm
for the studying of the variation of the 90s’ Western art in the Chinese situation.”
I certainly agree with Lü Peng. Furthermore, I believe that this research of “variation in Chinese situation” is not only the key to the analysis and evaluation of Wei Guangqing’s works created after the Red Wall—Harmonious Home ,
but also the way to explore modern Chinese art’s “contemporaneousness” and “indigenousness.”
Wei Guangqing’s Made in China and Golden Lotus successfully represents the exploration of Chinese modern art’s “contemporaneousness” and “indigenousness.” Investigation of the “variation of Western art in the Chinese environment” should be compared to the difference between Western Pop Art and Wei Guangqing’s works. As we
all know, Rauschenberg, Johns, Kaprow, Oldenburg, and others represents the United States’ Pop Art movement with their works. The best representative of the American Pop Art is Andy Warhol. Andy Warhol imitated advertisement and comic books in his creation, depicting Coca-Cola bottles, canned soups, and portraits of Marilyn Monroe. Andy
Warhol’s method and choices of theme are meant to attract attention or to shock. Some commentators think his creativity strategically directed at the post-modernism, that his works of art equate to commodities, subtly hinting
the culture of monopolizing capitalism and its modification of reality by the using similar means of mass production. They also think that Warhol’s works reflected ubiquity. The artist would not admit his works contain criticisms.
Andy Warhol emphasized, he “truly admires and appraises the popular art. While carefully managing his reputation,he has no conflicts or arguments with modern capitalism.” The western Pop Art represented by Andy Warhol can be seen as the product of consumer society. Differentiating from the emerging conceptual art forms that directly and purposefully criticize social, political, and cultural themes, Western Pop Art follows the cultural logic of consumer society. Warhol claimed that he was a commercial artist. According to his view, “the talent of managing business is the best kind of art”, “making money is art, creativity is art, and a successful business is the best kind of art.” The so-called “the nature of the original Pop Art language—the deconstruction of significance” precisely began with this prospect—Pop Art theme and the artistic skill broke the barrier between the “elegant” and the “mundane,” also toppled the traditional view about artists’ personality and artistic pursuit.
Made in China went far beyond borrowing the Western Pop Art’s original ideas. In fact, the author merely borrowed the Pop Art styles two-dimensional image usage. The conscious concerns of the social and cultural issues closely tied with the contemporary indigenous culture. As part of choosing the materials, Wei Guangqing adhered to the tradition
of Red Wall—Harmonious Home , that is the “linking the past with the present” approach. What is different is that the new work contains more traditional elements from Chinese culture, including the usage of the traditional printing techniques, such as the repeated illustrations from Golden Lotus prints. The goal is not just to evoke a historical
and cultural memory, but also to emphasize certain spiritual content. At this point, the position Wei Guangqing took is quite different from Warhol’s and other western artists’, but the attitude is just as unambiguous. Wei Guangqing said, “Chinese culture has a long history. It has an inherent uniqueness. It should be stressed in our art. My ‘Pop Art’ and western ‘Pop Art’ differentiate in this context.” He added further that, “I think the artists’ products should create for the audience a perspective, even a blind spot. The process should be interactive.” Made in China createsa unique and strange perspective, as a background color bar code and Made in China symbol presents a symbolic display of China as the “world factory”. The pornographic “Golden Lotus” illustrations present a subversive intent. Obviously, it only serves with the guise of sexual urges, while the real intention is elsewhere. It is equally clear thatit exposed the reality of great Chinese “sex” revolution since 90s. Made in China brought together more historicaland contemporary visual elements than Red Wall , using as much as possible of the relevant comparison and change in meanings of words to express concern and thought. Thus, Made in China , with the cultural consciousness and self- confidence, transcendes the cultural confrontation of the East and West, while changing the Pop Art language. This enables the work, while using the traditional cultural resources to set a foothold in the Chinese cultural context to
create a contemporary art that belongs to China’s own “contemporaneousness.” August 2007
Footnote:
1, “Ideal and Practice,” Sichuan Art Press , October 1992.
2, 6, Shen Wei, “Commitment to Image – Discussion with Wei Guangqing About Broadening,” Art Circle , 2005, vol.1.
3, “Guangzhou 1990s Art Biennial (Oil Painting) Documents of Works,” Sichuan Art Press , October 1992.
4, 5, Robert Williams, “Post-Modern Art Theory,” Chang Ningshen, Xing Li translated, Art Gallery , The Shanghai Fine Art Publishing, 2007, vol. 10.